


reckless

by calscardigan



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Aid, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Ice Skating, M/M, Mild Injury, Pet Names, accidental pet names, does that make sense? it will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29893572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calscardigan/pseuds/calscardigan
Summary: Richie could see on Eddie's face the exact moment his eyes locked onto Richie. His smile widened, and his eyes lit up, and for a moment, it felt like they were the only two people in the world.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Kudos: 38





	reckless

"Richie."

Stan was standing in front of Richie, placing their hand gently on his arm. "Are you okay?" 

"Of course I'm okay, Stanley," Richie pulled his arm to his chest, crossing it with the other one. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well. I figured it might have something to do with a certain someone you haven't seen in a while arriving today." Richie really hated it when Stan was right.

"Why on God's green earth would I be upset about seeing Eddie?" 

Stan sighed, long-suffering, and said, "Because you're completely in love with him, and you're worried you're going to do something stupid."

"Yeah," Richie said, dropping his head down on the table. "Just… you know. I miss him, like, a lot. And I've been talking to him still, texting and calling and stuff, but that's not the same and even then I just wanna burst out and  _ tell  _ him already." 

"Then why don't you?" 

Richie lifted his head. "Why would I? He doesn't feel the same way, it's just gonna make things awkward." 

"Haven't I been telling you for years that you're wrong about that?" Stan pressed a hand against Richie's forehead to push his head up further into a normal position. "And have I ever been wrong?"

Richie batted Stan's hand away. "You're wrong about this. I'm his best friend. That's it." 

Stan rolled their eyes. "Whatever you say, Rich." They stood and pushed their chair back. "Just wait until he tells you he wants to move in with you."

"What?" Richie's head shot up. "Wait, Stan, no, don't walk away. What are you talking about?"

Stan didn't even look back. "We have to go pick Eddie up." 

Watching Eddie get off the plane from Richie's spot a few feet behind Stan, he couldn't believe his eyes. Of course, he'd seen Eddie when they'd skyped or facetimed, but it was nothing compared to seeing him in person. Eddie looked healthier than Richie could ever remember seeing him; clearly, being away from his mother had helped Eddie big time. Happy and healthy was a good look on him. 

Eddie found Stan and ran over, wrapping them in a hug. "Stan. Hey." He pulled back and laughed. "How are you? How's college?"

"I'm good, college is… you know, school. But it's better than Derry." 

Eddie nodded. "You can say that again." He began to look around. "Where's…" 

Richie could see on Eddie's face the exact moment his eyes locked onto Richie. His smile widened, and his eyes lit up, and for a moment, it felt like they were the only two people in the world. And then Eddie was running over and practically tackling Richie in a hug. "Richie." 

Richie's arms wrapped around Eddie almost on reflex, in response to his smell, his voice,  _ him.  _ "Eds. Hey, man." 

Eddie laughed and hugged him just a bit tighter. "Oh my god, I missed you so much."

And now that Richie wasn't totally overwhelmed by the  _ Eddie _ of it all, he could notice a few things. The fact that Eddie had grown just a bit, for one. He was still shorter than Richie, but definitely taller. Probably by at least two inches. And his arms were fuller, more muscular, and was his fucking voice deeper? Oh, god. "I missed you too, spaghetti man." 

Eddie waited just a beat too long to push Richie away, clearly trying to frown but not succeeding. "I definitely didn't miss that."

Richie grinned and ruffled Eddie's hair. "Whatever you say, Eds." 

"So, okay, Eddie. Before college, you took a gap year to live in New York?" Patty asked from beside Stan.

Eddie nodded, eating the last of his fries. "Yeah. My mom… let's just say she was extremely overbearing. I needed to learn how to do stuff myself before I could go to college, otherwise I would've been an absolute wreck." 

Richie threw his arms around Eddie's shoulders and was met with the irritated wiggling of Eddie trying to get comfortable again. "And now he's coming to college with me."

Patty smiled and pushed her salad around with her fork. "Fun."

Richie watched Eddie reach over and snatch a fry off his plate and pop it in his mouth, looking smug like he hadn't been caught red handed. Richie decided to let him keep believing that. "Yep. Once we get him all settled into his dorm, the Richie and Eddie college fun time plan is a go."

"Actually," Eddie started, turning to face Richie. "I wanted to talk to you. About that."

"About… what?"

"Uhm. Dorms. And… stuff." Richie felt Eddie shift under his arm. "Like… maybe if you didn't have a roommate I could room with you."

"Oh." Why the hell was Stan always right? 

"I mean, it's totally fine if you don't want to, I can room with someone else, I just thought-"

Richie hated hearing Eddie doubt himself like that, so he found himself saying, "Okay. Yeah." Richie shook Eddie's shoulders. "Get ready for three years of fun, roomie." 

It was their last day before Richie and Eddie had to fly back to Boston, and they were spending it ice skating. Of all the ways Richie could think to end the trip, ice skating would probably be close to last, second only to losing all his friends and dying alone. But Eddie had looked so excited when Stan suggested it… Richie couldn't say no to that. So off they went to the rink. 

Richie finally got his shoes on and stood up to waddle towards the ice, but Eddie pushed him back down on the bench. 

"No fucking way are you going out there with your skates laced like that. Are you insane?"

Richie blinked, his ass sore from the impact against the wood when he was  _ shoved.  _ "Laced like what? Like everyone laces their skates?" 

Eddie scoffed and turned around. "Fine. Whatever. Fall and eat shit, I don't care, just don't come running to me when you do." And with that, Eddie set off on the ice, graceful as if he'd done this a million times. And maybe he had, in New York. Maybe he did a lot of things in New York. Oh, god, maybe he got a boyfriend in New York; he never mentioned one but that didn't mean it didn't happen, maybe Eddie just wanted to keep it private. And that would be  _ fine,  _ Richie would be happy for him, of course he would, he-

"Are you coming, Richie?" Eddie called from across the rink. 

Richie stood up and waddled out to the ice. 

And promptly face planted directly into it. 

Not just a face plant. Richie fell and skidded across the ice several feet, or at least it felt that way. 

"Jesus fucking Christ, Richard." Eddie was by Richie's side in seconds, helping him up and looking at his wounds. "Shit. We're gonna need to clean that."

Richie shook his head. "No. It's fine, go have fun. I can ask them for a bandaid or something-"

"No way." Eddie grabbed Richie's hand and used it to pull him back towards the benches.

Richie tripped over his skates and nearly fell again just from the shock of Eddie's hand in his, not to mention the pace they were walking. "Careful, Eds, you're gonna make me trip again."

"Trip, my ass. You fucking ate it." Eddie sat on the bench and started to unlace his skates.

"What are you doing?" Richie sat on the bench beside Eddie.

Eddie looked over at Richie. "Well, we can't clean that here. This place is an infection waiting to happen. I have a first aid kit in my stuff; I can patch you up there."

Richie frowned. "No way. I'm not gonna make you leave just because I can't skate." 

"You're not making me do anything. I'm choosing to." Eddie patted Richie's skates. "Get these off before you hurt yourself even worse." 

So Richie did, and they rode back to Stan's dorm in relative silence after explaining to Stan and Patty where they were going. 

Once they were there, Eddie told Richie to sit on the bed so he could clean the cut on his face. 

And they'd done this before, of course. They'd both been bullied in school; they patched each other up, it was a common thing for them. But it had been a long time since they'd done that. 

It certainly wasn't middle school Eddie's hand holding Richie's cheek, turning his head so he could reach the scrape. And it wasn't middle school Richie sitting silently besides the odd wince, his face burning up and not from the pain. 

Eddie laughed. "Been a while since I had to do this, huh?" 

Richie smiled, and he would've nodded if he could. "Oh, yeah. Too long, I think. Fixing my injuries was such a fun bonding experience. Maybe I should start getting beat up every day again." 

Eddie snorted and shook his head. "Do not. I'm not a huge fan of seeing you hurt." He turned around to dig in his bag. Luckily for Richie, who could feel his face grow even hotter. 

"Alright, baby. What kind of bandaid do you want? I have normal ones, but that doesn't seem totally your style, so I have some princess ones, Transformers-"

"Wait, wait…. what?" Richie interrupted as the endearment finally registered in his head.

Eddie turned and raised an eyebrow at Richie. "Princess bandaids, Transformer bandaids…. did you go deaf or something, Trashmouth?"

"No," Richie said, shaking his head. "What do you call me?" 

Eddie blinked at him. "I… Trashmouth?" 

Richie shook his head again, frowning. "Before that. Before the bandaid thing." 

"Richie?" Eddie shrugged. "I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention."

"Cause… cause I could've sworn you called me baby just then." 

"Did I?" Eddie was clearly trying to sound nonchalant, but Richie recognized the way he turned and dug through his bag. Eddie was blushing, for sure. 

"I'm pretty sure you did."

"Well," Eddie paused his shuffling and turned to Richie. "Sorry. I guess?"

"No!" Richie rushed to say, his hand reaching out and landing gently on Eddie's shoulder, almost reflexively. "I didn't mind it. It's totally fine. Just surprised me."

Eddie looked at Richie for a long moment before a small smile began to grow on his face. "Well, then. What kind of bandaid do you want, baby?" 

With the way Richie's stomach jumped, he wasn't sure if he regretted telling Eddie that or not. He supposed he'd have to hear it a few more times. Just to be sure. "You have any Rapunzel ones?"

"For you?" Eddie said, grabbing the box of princess bandaids out of his bag. "Always." 

And this time when Eddie took Richie's face in his hands to hold him still, it was… sweeter, something like honey and iced tea on a hot day. It was familiar in the way deja vu is familiar, something old and something new mixing together, messing with Richie's head and pulling a strange feeling from his stomach; Eddie's hands carefully applying the bandaid to Richie's cheek, something he'd done a million times before, but some softer feeling beneath it. 

And after the bandaid was applied, Eddie didn't let go. He sat, hand on Richie's cheek, and he didn't let go. Richie could feel the shaking of Eddie's hand, so small he wouldn't have noticed if Eddie wasn't holding him. And then, slowly but not hesitantly, he pressed his forehead against Richie's. 

Richie was still, awestruck, for a moment, watching Eddie for a sign he was dreaming or it was all just a joke. Finally he cleared his throat and said, "We didn't tend to do this when you patched me up before."

Eddie laughed and looked down. "I guess not." He made a move like he was going to pull away, and Richie raced to wrap an arm around his shoulders.

"I wish…" Richie stopped, took a deep breath. "I wish we had."

Eddie's eyes flashed up to meet Richie's. "Yeah?" 

"Mhm." 

Eddie sat looking at Richie for just a moment longer, before, soft as a breeze, asking, "Can I kiss you?" 

Richie grinned. "Thought you'd never ask." 

And sitting on the bed in Stan's dorm room, after years and years and years of pining, through bright smiles and laughter, Eddie finally,  _ finally,  _ kissed Richie. 

"You know," Richie said as he pulled away, "If you wanted to kiss me, you could've just asked. You didn't have to wait until I got injured."

Eddie rolled his eyes, but he looked happier than Richie had ever seen him. "Hey, baby?"

Richie's breath caught in his throat. "I- yeah?"

Eddie grinned. "Shut the hell up." And with that, he pressed his lips to Richie's once more. 


End file.
